Thoughts from the interface of science, religion, law and culture

After spending several years touring the country as a stand up comedian, Ed Brayton tired of explaining his jokes to small groups of dazed illiterates and turned to writing as the most common outlet for the voices in his head. He has appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show and the Thom Hartmann Show, and is almost certain that he is the only person ever to make fun of Chuck Norris on C-SPAN.

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Dean Goes Full Godwin

Bradlee Dean isn’t just tipping his toe in the water of Lake Godwin, he’s doing a cannonball off the dock while yelling “the Nazis are coming, the Nazis are coming!” In his latest insipid Worldnutdaily column, he compares America to Germany in the 1930s, failing to stop President Obama’s headlong rush to fascism. “Are we as asleep as the Germans of the ’30s,” he asks.

Just imagine if the Nuremberg Trials, per se, would have taken place at the first unconstitutional acts of Hitler’s wicked regime. Hitler could have easily been stopped in the 1920s with relative ease by the German people who still had the freedom to do the right thing, and did it not.

Instead, they acted as if Hitler had nothing to do with their personal lives.

Friends, as no one took Mussolini, Mao or Stalin seriously at first, many fellow Germans thought Hitler was an average run-of-the-mill wacko who posed no threat.

Horrifically, they were dead wrong…

What does this have to do with America today?

Everything.

It is clear to see that over the last four administrations, America’s government is emulating many similarities – likewise setting itself at war with God, abusing power and trampling on the Constitution.

It’s “emulating many similarities.” That turn of phrase made me laugh out loud. It’s the kind of thing dumb people would write because they think it makes them sound not so dumb. They’re wrong. As for this ridiculous claim of impending fascism, the very fact that he can write such nonsense and be greeted only with our derisive laughter and not by a train ride to one of those FEMA camps that exist only in the minds of wingnuts is proof that he’s wrong.

Comments

At war with God. Really? Just an aside to all you Atheists Warriors out there, do not breathe a word of this to any of the Christian Soldiers that we have iron chariots. let’s keep it a secret, OK? OK!

I suppose the real irony here is that he’s right: the last few administrations have trampled the constitution, especially since 9/11. But I doubt that’s what he’s worried about. I’m sure Dean is foaming at the mouth over Obamacare and “socialized medicine,” rather than targeted killings, warrantless wiretaps, and the like.

Unconstitutional acts? Like Bush declaring war without the consent of Congress? Like Bush signing laws and issuing statements saying that he will never, ever enforce? Like Bush demanding — and getting — authority for warrantless wiretaps? Secret surveillance of millions of people whose only crime is being the “wrong” skin color or “wrong” ethnicity or “wrong” religion?

My guess is that it’s all related to the mythology of President Reagan that they’ve bought into. That he was “perfect”, and we’ve never had such a great president either before or since. So all of the bad in the country is the result of him no longer being president.

It’s impossible to square the psychological attributes of contemporaneous U.S. conservatism, especially by conservative Christians, with opposition to Nazism; while noting this American group does not currently promote the worst attributes of Nazism but instead explicitly opposes such behavior. But Nazism gave rise precisely due to the rise of authoritarianism that became predominate in Germany by at least the mid-19th century if not earlier (I’m not a student of Germany and therefore don’t know if it predates the mid-19th century through WWII when authoritarianism was a popular attribute in Germany); where authoritarianism is an attribute of politically conservative Christians in the U.S.

Liberals are effectively checking the worst results in the U.S., with the exception of conservative Christians effectively obstructing policies to mitigate climate change. One of the most emergent and concerning threats of religious authoritarians is now taking place in Putin’s Russia. Where like Franco’s Spain and the U.S. Republican party, we’re seeing the emergence of a few plutocrats/corporatists better allying themselves with theocratic-friendly Christians. It’s not surprising that authoritarian-friendly ex-Soviets would swing to the right side of authoritarianism. The author of the The Dead Hand provided compelling evidence that mid- to late-era Soviet leaders were effectively conservative authoritarians defending the architecture of a leftist authoritarian empire.

I suppose the real irony here is that he’s right: the last few administrations have trampled the constitution, especially since 9/11.

Americans, state governments, and the federal government have all been trampling on the Consitution since its ratification. I don’t perceive it getting worse, only progress in some areas, e.g., better utilizing the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment along with better speech and press protections; while regress in other areas – 4th and 5th Amendment policies in the fight against terrorism.

The “Weimar America” analogy is valid (in more ways than I have time to describe adequately today), but it’s not Obama who’s leading us to fascism — the people who voted for him are the ones trying to STOP that.

Bad choice of word. What that city is famous for, apart from the Nuremberg trials and the Nazi party rallys, are the Nuremberg Laws. When you are against people getting married, you should be careful with Nazi comparisons. Especially when they involve that city.